Plans and Possibilities for a new year...

I've been spending the past month making plans for 2019.

I know some people like to make resolutions. (Guilty of making and breaking many resolutions). So nowadays, I'm more likely to make "plans" instead of "resolutions."

I know not all my plans will work the way I'm hoping, but by laying down a few dreams, the possibilities begin to come to light and hope springs inside of my heart.
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How many of you are already thinking about the year to come? Are your calendars already purchased? Planners filled with fresh pages and ready to go? Goals, or perhaps resolutions, written down. Maybe this year we’ll make it to March before scraping them? Ha.

Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash

​What about your word?
Do any of you try to capture a word for the New Year?

What is capturing a word, some of you might ask. Well, I’ll tell you.

Every year, around early November, I start asking the Lord to give me a word for the coming year. Something that I can keep tucked in my heart and hang onto. Something to encourage me, or help me stay focused. 

Some words I've had in past years have been: Balance, Hope, Production.... 

I’ve been doing this for several years now and have come across a few friends who also do it. But then, this summer, I read a book by Debbie Macomber called, One Perfect Word.
In her book, she wrote about the different words the Lord had given her and how they’d formed her life and writing. She would get her word and spend the following year doing intense studies about the meaning behind the word, what scriptures might relate to it, as well. And as many writers do, she kept a journal on what she learned.

It was a wonderful read. Some of her words were ones I’ve been given at some time in the past. I appreciated how she took that word and really studied it. I hadn’t thought to do that before.

Getting that word is an important part of planning the year ahead. It helps to reveal the possibilities of what the Lord wants to do in me.

Resolutions are easily broken. 

Plans can go wrong...easily.

But God's word never comes back void. 
 
And it's through a lot of prayer, times of quiet, and making a plan that I'm able to face another year with confidence. I've learned that if I truly want to reach my dreams, then it's going to require some planning and forethought. 

What about you? Do you like to make plans for the year ahead?  Feel free to share in the comments your thoughts on this.